Install Latest GNOME Shell 3.3.2 in Ubuntu 11.10 via PPA

Back in the old GNOME 2.0 days, Ricotz testing PPA was one of the first bastions of those who wanted to try out very early versions of GNOME Shell. Now that GNOME 3.0 is what Ubuntu 11.10 is based on makes Ricotz testing PPA even more useful. It lets you install bleeding edge snapshots of GNOME Shell in your Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot without much trouble. Learn how to install latest GNOME 3.3.2 in Ubuntu 11.10 via PPA.

IMPORTANT EDIT: It seems like a lot of you are finding issues while trying to follow the instructions. Just received a mail a Ricotz PPA owner briefing on the need for adding the following PPA as well for the proper working of it - ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3. Also, it is recommended that you read the full PPA description before getting started.

I still wonder why everything worked so smooth for me, even though I haven't added the gnome3-team PPA to my sources.list file. In fact, I did an entire post on GNOME Shell theming after upgrading to GNOME Shell 3.3.2 using Ricotz PPA. I am deeply sorry for the troubles, if any, this post might have caused.

GNOME Shell 3.3.2 in Ubuntu 11.10

Warning: What you get from Ricotz testing PPA are bleeding edge versions of GNOME Shell and it can become unstable at times.

My experience so far with GNOME Shell 3.3.2 in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric has been really good. Every GNOME Shell extension I use and every GNOME Shell theme I ever installed are all working great.

But that doesn't guarantee anything. It might act weird on other hardwares. Simply speaking, you should know what you are doing.

Having said that, upgrading to GNOME Shell 3.3.2 was not all smooth for me. After doing sudo apt-get upgrade in Terminal, I had to do a partial upgrade using Update Manager in Ubuntu since many updates were kept back.

How to Undo Everything You Just Did?

One word: PPA-Purge. Install PPA-Purge first and then Purge the Ricotz testing PPA for GNOME Shell using PPA-Purge. Just follow the commands below. [Warning: PPA-Purge may or may not work 100% satisfactorily. Do it at your own risk].